Anthony Fauci, a former top US health official, went to a US Senate hearing on Wednesday. Senators asked him about Covid-19 and where the virus came from. Fauci, 85, did not answer their questions. He used the Fifth Amendment. This US law lets a person stay silent if an answer may lead to criminal charges.

Republican Senator Rand Paul led the questions. He said Fauci may have hidden facts or lied about Covid. Fauci said these claims were not true. He said Paul wanted to make a criminal case against him. Fauci had spoken to Congress about Covid several times before. Scientists still do not know for sure how Covid began. It may have passed from animals to people, or it may have come from a lab in Wuhan, China.

Paul continued to ask questions after Fauci chose to stay silent. He said the Senate group may vote next week to say Fauci did not follow Congress’s demands. Other Republicans may also try to make him answer through a legal order. Florida’s top lawyer said the state would investigate Fauci. Some Democratic senators defended him. They said the hearing tried to make him say something that could bring legal trouble.